Dragon's Love with Dangerous Letters
Chapter 11
"Umm Natsu?"
The brunette stared at the prince who continued to shove food into his mouth. For some who was royal he didn't act very civilized in a public restaurant. Artemis still couldn't believe that he had eaten so much and was still going on with his meal. Shouldn't he also be extremely bloated by now? He's still as skinny as he was when he first stepped foot in this restaurant.
The male stopped eating and looked up at the girl briefly before finishing the food in his hand and wiping himself off with a napkin. He set the newly empty plate onto the stack of dirty plates next to him as one of the waiters came by to take them all away, something about the pinkette always eating too much when he came here being muttered under his breath. Artemis had someone take her dirty plate away about fifteen minutes ago after she finished her meal, which for her was probably the best meal a poor girl like her can have in their lifetime. She had been sitting there waiting for Natsu to finish eating but it seemed as if he just wanted more food as each plate was devoured.
"Is there something else you want Natsu-Kun?" Yajima asked, his tone slightly hopefully that the dragon slayer would say no.
"Nope I think I'm good!" Natsu replied dropping a few jewels on the table and standing up, "Come on Artemis! I'll show you around my kingdom now!"
He took hold of Artemis's wrist and dragged her from the restaurant while yelling thanks to Yajima over his shoulder. The brunette didn't get this pink haired goof ball for anything. He was always so cheerful, well unless you mentioned PhantomLord around him, and she was having trouble always keeping up with him and his peppy personality. That smile of his was glued to his face as he pulled her down the streets too. She tried to keep all of the information he was giving to her in her head but he explained almost every building to her that half the load of information seemed to go in one ear and out the other. He told her of every family in almost every house, he explained each store they past and how he met the owner, and he also told her of all the pranks he used to play on people in the streets as a young boy when Igneel brought him around the kingdom. People would bow or wave and give a hello to the prince and even Artemis herself. She wasn't used to so much attention and being said hello to so much but she assumed it was only natural for anyone to receive that much attention when hanging around the prince of a kingdom.
"Come on Artemis I'll show you where my mother used to take me when my father was too busy with running the kingdom." Natsu told her taking her down a different street.
It was a little bit of a secluded street. Not many people were walking down this way and the shadows of the buildings made the street look a little more dark and gloomy than the others. Natsu didn't seem to notice this fact though and kept tugging on Artemis's wrist as if to tell her she was going to slow and to pick up the pace. He took her all the way to the end; the dead end which Artemis would say didn't help the gloomy issue. He had her stop in front of a shop, and old and ragged looking store. Music instruments sat on display in the windows though they didn't look like they had been touched for years. Natsu beckoned her to follow him inside, the door hitting a bell hanging from the ceiling as it opened. More music instruments hung on walls or were propped up on stands that sat on yellow clothed tables. None of them looked broken but dust coated most of them. She followed the dragon slayer to the back of the shop and into a small private room in the back. In the middle of the room sat a piano, a white coated piano that had its keys covered. The pinkette walked over to it and sat down lifting the casing off of the keys and running his finger along them, each one producing a sound as he pressed down on them.
"I don't know how to play, honestly I never had an interest in learning how to but I loved to listen. My mom used to bring me down here on days that I didn't have lessons or wasn't busy with my dad and she'd play. She used to love music." He chuckled.
"Used to?" Artemis questioned taking a seat next to him.
"She moved forward to a better place a few years ago. I come here every year on the day she passed away and sit here in front of the piano. At that time our kingdom wasn't doing so well but I guessed it was because my father needed time to move past what had happened and I didn't blame him. I had needed time too." Natsu explained, a small smile decorating his face as he did.
". . . I'm sorry Natsu. I didn't mean to pry like that." The brunette apologized feeling guilty for asking as she pressed down on certain keys.
"Its fine . . . hey do you play?" The male asked noticing that keys she pressed sound nice together.
"A little, my mom taught me. We never had our own piano but a friend of hers did so she would take me over twice a week and each time she would sit there and teach me for two hours every time." She answered.
"You wouldn't mind . . . playing for me, would you?" He asked scratching his head awkwardly.
"I'll play but I'm not the best at it." The female answered.
Natsu nodded and rose from the bench so that Artemis could set herself in the middle. She rose her hands and placed the on the keys her mother taught her to put them on. It took her a few seconds to think about what she wanted to play before her fingers began to move. The song flowed beautifully as she played and she didn't make a mistake as she played but that's not what had caught Natsu's attention, it was the song that she had chosen to play. That song that Artemis picked was the same one his mother loved to play, his mother's favorite and he remembered that his mother told him this song was extremely hard to play, that very few knew how to play it. He only knew that his mother could play it and now he knew Artemis could too.
"I thought you said you weren't good at playing?" He questioned her once she ceased to press anymore keys.
"I'm not. I picked a song I thought was easiest for me." The brunette replied.
"That song isn't an easy song to play. That song was my mother's favorite and she said only a very few knew how to play it besides the person who made it. She was one of them and you can too." Natsu explained, the smile that had faltered at the beginning of the song coming back now.
"R-Really? My mom never told me that. This was the first song she taught me." She admitted.
"You were amazing Artemis, really."
"Yes she was! So cool!" An obnoxious voice shouted from the doorway.
Both Artemis and Natsu looked over at the door. They were met with a man who held a camera and notepad; he had blonde hair and light blue eyes, sunglasses rested upon his head. He was smiling as he held up the camera and snapped a picture. Natsu quickly pulled Artemis behind him and glared at the man.
"What are doing here Jason?" He questioned.
"I thought I'd interview our prince since I haven't in awhile and then I find him with a cute babe! COOL!"
"I don't have time for you today Jason, leave us alone." The pinkette growled pulling on Artemis's wrist to lead her out of the music store.
"Wait! Are you his lover or something?" The reporter questioned the brunette as she passed him.
"L-Lover!?" The female stuttered.
"Go Artemis, don't answer him." Natsu ordered pushing her out of the small room and out of the store completely.
The reporter tried to continue questioning them but Artemis was still to shocked from his first question that she didn't have the ability to speak and Natsu was just flat out ignoring him hoping the blonde would get the point and leave the two alone. Natsu rushed Artemis down the street and made a turn into a crowd of people. Artemis watched as the male muttered things under his breath and kept that frown plastered onto his face.
"Natsu? Who was that?" She asked looking behind them to see if the reporter was still following them.
"He's an annoying reporter that travels from kingdom to kingdom to get interviews on the royal families." He replied bitterly.
"W-What he said-"
"Ignore what he asked you. I don't need you getting caught up in all that nonsense. You're different from every other girl I've been forced to meet and I intend to keep it that way." He told her quickly glancing down at her.
Artemis felt her face heat up. It seemed like that was happening often lately and it was embarrassing her. She trailed behind the prince awkwardly the whole way back to the castle not mentioning another word about the reporter. She was led somewhere into the castle gardens where a young boy sat on the edge of a fountain. The boy bared dark purple hair and dark eyes and he looked to be about thirteen years of age. He looked up at both Natsu and Artemis when he heard them approach, a wide smile growing onto his face.
"Natsu-Nii!" The boy called standing up from his seat on the fountain.
"Hey Romeo! How's your apprenticeship going?" The older male asked him.
"Boring but my magic lessons are great!" The boy, Romeo, answered before looking up at Artemis, "Hello Miss. I'm Romeo! I'm working to be a butler here."
"Artemis Elise and please drop the Miss. Umm, are you two related? He called you Natsu-Nii?" Artemis questioned looking at the pinkette.
"No but I've known him since he was pint sized and he always used to hang around me and look up to me so it's like we're brothers. His father also works here so he had to stay here at the place while his father worked which led him to an apprentice ship as a butler here although he finds that more boring than the magic lessons he has been receiving lately. That's where the Natsu-Nii comes from. Sorry if that confused you." Natsu chuckled scratching the back of his head.
"No it's fine; it was just my curiosity getting the best of me."
"Alright well my father said he wanted to speak with me when I returned with you. You wouldn't mind keeping Artemis Company until I get back would you Romeo?" The dragon slayer asked the younger boy.
"Nope!"
"Good! I'll be back as soon as I can."
With that the pink haired pyro jogged away from them and through the garden. Artemis took a seat on the fountain next to Romeo who had seated himself again and continued eating his sandwich. He held out a container that held strawberries in it and looked at Artemis.
"Want some?"
The brunette reached her hand in and plucked one out from the pile before biting into it. Romeo struck up a conversation to get rid of the silence and started explaining to Artemis the kind of magic he was using, it was elemental fire called rainbow fire. Of course Artemis assumed the idea of using fire came from Natsu since he was a fire dragon slayer after all. Everything this boy did seemed to relate back to Natsu in some way, shape, form, or another.
"What about you Artemis? Do you have magic?" The boy asked finishing his meal.
"No but it does run in my family. Natsu told me that I shouldn't give up on it though and that maybe it will come one day." The female replied.
"Sounds like Natsu-Nii! He always knows how to cheer people up. Oh by the way you didn't have to introduce yourself before. I heard about you from Natsu after he returned from the ball in Magnolia. You were one of the girls that danced with him out of the . . . well I don't know how many. They seem to crowd around him a lot lately but now that you're here maybe he won't have to deal with that anymore." The purple haired boy sighed.
"W-What makes you say that?" Artemis stuttered by the sudden theory the young one made.
"Because Natsu-Nii has really taken a liking to you Artemis. You're different from most girls that come to the palace." Romeo replied.
"W-Why is everyone doing that lately?" The brunette sighed.
"Doing what?"
"Assuming that Natsu and I are some sort of thing. First Mira brings it up, then that reporter asks if I'm his lover, and now you say that he's taken a liking to me. What is with all of you?" The brunette muttered in response.
"We're only doing that because we hope he's finally found that 'one' in you Artemis." The boy stated.
"What 'one'?"
"The wife he needs to become king of Pyre."